April 2010 - Issue 70 - www.clareevans.co.uk

Hello ,

At the beginning of the month, the clocks changed to British Summer Time.  Lighter evenings and the days getting longer.  How would you like to have an extra hour in your day - every day?  You can read one way to make this happen in this month's article.

I hope you had a good Easter break and unlike 50% of the population managed to avoid checking your email whilst on holiday!

Easter is traditionally a time of the year when people get out into their gardens.  Time for a good tidy-up, planning and planting for the summer. It's certainly something I've been doing and making the most of the fine weather.

Nothing like a bit of sunshine and fresh new growth to put a spring in your step and a bit of focus and enthusiasm into your business and life in general.

The teleclass at the end of last month went well, after some initial technical hiccups.  Many more registered to receive the notes and recording after the call. Several of them have now signed up for the e-Course starting this week (see Workshops and Resources).

I'll be running another one later in the year, so look out for dates and times in future newsletters.

As usual, you can keep in touch with what I'm up to and get extra news and tips from my blog or Follow me on Twitter.

Enjoy the rest of this month's newsletter.

Clare

P.S. Feel free to pass this newsletter on to friends and colleagues.

I doubt you could get through a day without being distracted or interrupted. There's so much information and mental stimulation coming at us from all directions.

In fact distractions and interruptions have a significant impact on our time and could be taking up nearly two hours in your day.

Think how that impacts what you're able to achieve, if you're losing TEN HOURS a week - that's a whole day and more).

There are two main sources of distraction.

Externally, we get distracted by all sorts of things - phone calls, email, the internet, our environment and people are the main ones.

Internally, thoughts, boredom, hunger, thirst and various emotions that distract us. Internal distraction tends to lead to procrastination but that's a whole other topic.

So what is your biggest source of distraction?  What could you do to reduce or avoid these?

When you get distracted or interrupted, ask yourself:

- What's the best use of your time right now?
- How important is it that you deal with the distraction this minute?
- What is the impact on your current task.

How much time do you think, on average, you waste in a day?

Emails - 59% of people check email as it arrives. Yet they're rarely so urgent they need to be responded to immediately.

Phone Calls - often a low-priority interruption and rarely urgent. It may be important to answer calls promptly, as part of your business.   However, you'll also benefit from focused time to deal with other important tasks. Find ways to manage your calls.

People - If you get interrupted and it's not convenient - say so! If you're busy, say you'll get back to them when you've finished what you're doing.

* If you do get interrupted take a few minutes to deal with it or arrange to talk at a later date.

* Remove yourself from the sources of distraction - find somewhere else to work, book a meeting room, work from home.

* How much time do YOU spend on emails, phone calls, interruptions and low priority tasks?

80% of interruptions are trivial.

Dealing with short-term distractions often has a long-term impact. Find ways to manage your distractions and interruptions, so you can make better use of your time.

Set time limits - allow a distraction or interruption a limited amount of time before refocusing.  At least you won't end up with a 'run-away' distraction and wonder where the last hour or two has gone.


Check the impact distractions have on your time habits by taking the Time Audit. Find more tips and strategies to deal with them on the Take Control of your Time e-Course - www.clareevans.co.uk.

Until next month.